In 1959, West Germany released a set of Beethovenhalle commemorative stamps. These were in celebration of the opening of the Beethovenhalle concert hall in Bonn. The set included a series dedicated to German composers. I recently thought about this set after I posted about the 1940 series of stamps issued to commemorate American composers. The German set was the first series I added to my music-themed collection.
Many countries have introduced composer series on their postage stamps. This began with European countries including Austria and Germany (which probably has the most separate series of any country). Other countries, including Cuba, have also celebrated composers and musicians with postal stamp series. This set is a little unusual, as even though the stamps feature composers, they celebrate a building. They commemorate the opening of the Beethovenhalle, or the Beethoven Hall, in Bonn on September 8, 1959.
The Building
Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770 and the City has always been proud of its native son. As a result, the city has long celebrated him by naming concert venues after him. This is actually the third concert hall in the city to bear his name. The beautiful hall was designed by German architect Siegfried Wolske and has become a symbol of the city, The Hall is home to the Beethoven Orchestra and the annual Beethovenfest. Of course in 1959, Bonn was also the capital of West Germany and this beautiful hall was the site of many historic events including the election of the West German President. It is now a landmarked building and considered one of the most important modern buildings in Germany
The Stamps
In addition to Beethoven, the set includes four other composers, all of which had a birth or death anniversary in the year 1959. The composers are:
George Frederick Handel (1685–1759)
Louis Spohr (1784–1859)
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
The set of stamps was sold in the commemorative sheet that had as a background a short clip of Beethoven’s score for the “Ode to Joy” theme from the last movement of his Ninth Symphony.
performed in Beethovenhalle
